Packard's
by Desert Blossom-by-the-Sea
Summary: A collection of brief glimpses into our favorite characters' lives through a stranger's eyes. Chapter 2 - Bones and Kirk
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Brief looks into our favorite character's lives when they first came to the academy.

The character Ricky is based strongly on my wonderful cousin, whom I dearly love, so please don't take offense if he seems over the top. Much of the dialogue is a variation of what comes straight from my cousin's mouth. I know Ricky's a stereotype, but then so's my cousin.

This begins a day or two after Kirk, McCoy and Uhura arrive at Starfleet Academy.

* * *

Packard's

"Hey, Harley. Check out the hot goods walking through the door." Ricky nudged his fellow worker in the shoulder and nodded at the entrance to the coffee shop.

Harley tucked a stray wisp of espresso colored hair behind her ear and glanced up from the latte machine to see a tall, blond cadet striding through the doorway with his arm slung around a curvaceous Orion woman. When he turned toward the counter Harley noticed that his face looked as though it had been on the receiving end of a rock slide.

She leaned toward Ricky, "I wonder what happened to him?"

Ricky turned his back to the door and fanned himself vigorously. "Honey, I'd love to see what's beneath that uniform. I know his face will heal."

Harley handed the late to the waiting Starfleet officer. "I don't think he's your type."

"Oh, Sugar! He's young, he's hot and he's a man. Just my type."

"Well, I don't think you're his type. Not after seeing what he has hanging on his arm."

"Why are all the good looking men straight? A gay guy doesn't stand a chance."

"I thought you and Jason were seeing each other."

"Yeah, we are, but my vision is 20/20 and when a good looking guy comes around, I can't help but look."

Harley laughed at her friend and watched as the blond cadet lead his friend to a table, then turned to the counter.

Ricky turned to face the cadet. "What can I get you, Sugar Plum?"

Harley watched the green alien woman curl up with laughter as the cadet's face deepened to roughly match the red shade of his cadet uniform. Hunky guy managed to stutter his order under Ricky's unconcealed yearning gaze. Harley punched Ricky's shoulder and turned to pull the two lattes.

She handed them to the cadet. "Ricky's mostly harmless," she assured him.

His blue eyes twinkled at her. "It's the parts that aren't harmless that concern me." He grinned at her and took his order to his table.

"Dollface, I hope we're going to see a lot of that guy around here." Ricky held up a hand in a high-five gesture, but Harley just rolled her eyes and waited on the next customer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hey, angel face, who's tall, dark and brooding sitting with our Cadet Hotty?"

Harley followed Ricky's pointing finger to see the cadet who had been with the gorgeous Orion (was there any other kind? She'd give a day's tips to meet a gorgeous **male** Orion) conversing with an older cadet. "Don't know. They haven't come to the counter to get anything yet."

Almost as if he'd read her mind, the older man slid his chair back and meandered over to the counter, smiling warmly at every woman he encountered. Ricky openly checked him out from head to toe, and then leisurely skimmed his eyes back up again to land on the cadet's flabbergasted expression.

"Aren't you just a little over-the-hill for that uniform, cadet?" Ricky winked at the man and Haley watched the cadet's eyebrows dip into a frown over his hazel eyes.

She saw how ill-at-ease the man was and elbowed Ricky away from the counter. "Don't pay attention to him. His tongue engages long before his brain. What can I get for you?"

The uncertainty drained from his face and he gave her a warm grin. "Well," his eyes drifted down to her name tag, "Ms. Harley, I'd like two black coffees, large, and a blueberry muffin."

"Sure." Harley turned to fill his order, glaring meaningfully at Ricky. She knew her friend would never push himself at someone who was clearly not interested, but he did love to tease.

"Bones! Grab another muffin for me, will ya?" Cadet Hotty called to his friend.

Harley raised an eyebrow at the man, "Bones? Is that a foreign name?"

He chuckled and his lips spread in a wide grin. "No, a nick-name. I'm a doctor." He scooped up the tray with their order and headed back to his friend.

"Ricky, I'm taking my break now," Harley called out. She dug under the counter and pulled out her PADD with her English 101 text on it and chose a table in the corner. Her first exam was coming up in two days and she planned on acing it.

Cadet Hotty and Bones were seated two tables away and Harley's natural curiosity kept her from blocking out their conversation. She watched from under her eyelashes as "Bones" pulled a silver flask out from his jacket pocket and poured some dark amber liquid into his coffee.

"Bones, we have class in less than an hour! Didn't you get enough of that stuff last night?"

"Little hair-of-the-dog. An old southern hangover cure." He held the flask out to his friend, "You look as though you could use some of Dr. McCoy's magic bullet, Jim."

Harley gave up any pretense at studying as she openly watched the two men. Jim. Now she could stop calling him Cadet Hotty. He could be Cadet Hot Jim. Oh, that just lit a fire in her innards.

Jim hesitated a fraction of a second, then nodded his acceptance and Bones poured a large dollop into his coffee. "I guess a little Irish coffee with my muffin won't hurt – much."

Jim pulled a piece off the muffin and stuffed it into his mouth. As he chewed he looked back into McCoy's face. "So, Len, what are you going to do about Joanna?"

Harley sat up a bit as she saw all the color drain from the doctor's face. _I wonder who Joanna is? He looks as if he could use a good woman to curb that early morning drinking._

McCoy kept his eyes on his coffee, "There's nothing I can do, Jim. Her mother took all possibility of a relationship out of my hands. I'm legally forbidden from seeing her for the next twelve years." He closed his eyes and drained the mug in one gulp.

"Bones, you have to do something. It's not right that she should be without the father who loves her."

Both men raised their eyes, and blue met hazel over the table. They held each other's gaze for a few seconds and Harley felt that she'd missed a whole conversation as those seconds passed.

"That's why I joined Starfleet, Jim. I couldn't practice medicine anywhere on the planet and not try to see my daughter. But if I tried, her mother would have me jailed, so…"

"But," Jim interrupted, "I know what it's like to grow up without a father. I would never leave a kid of mine alone." He picked at the crumbs on his plate. "I couldn't do that to someone I loved."

McCoy slammed his fist down on his table and Harley's PADD clattered as it hit the floor.

"Don't you think that tears me up every time I think of her? She's only six, Jim. Just a baby." He dragged both hands down his face. "I don't know if she'll have any good memories of me in twelve years when I'm allowed to have contact with her again. Her mother will probably poison her mind against me." His shoulders heaved as he sucked in a deep breath and took drag on the flask – without the coffee.

Jim's arm reached across the table to clasp his friend on the shoulder. "She'll want to know you, Len. She'll ask other people about you and find out what a good man you are. She'll come looking for you." He pulled his hand back as the older man visibly relaxed. "I know I'd move heaven and earth – and a couple of galaxies – if I could meet my father for just a few minutes."

The two men sat quietly for a few seconds while Harley pondered their conversation. She felt a bit like a voyeur, but that curiosity about people was also why she was pursuing a career in xenoanthropology.

The men stood and Bones tossed a few coins on the table as they drifted toward the door.

"Ya know, Jim, I think tonight would be a great night to see something of San Francisco besides the academy campus. You up for some fun?"

Jim punched his friend in the arm. "Fun? Always, Bones, always."


End file.
